Even though the Game Developers Conference runs all week, the actual show starts on Wednesday. Still, there are a few things that require us to be at the show earlier. Some of the companies with smaller budgets will rent rooms around the convention center and hold small meetings. This year was no exception.

We only had one meeting, but it was first thing in the morning. We scurry outside to walk to the hotel where the meeting is, only to find it pouring rain. Being from Seattle, I'm used to rain, but this was more than I wanted. We snagged a taxi and zipped on down to the meeting. I could likely fill this entire journal with complaints about the shocking style of San Francisco driving, but I'm sure it's a subject that's been done to death in other forums.

Instead, we got to see two unique Free-to-Play MMORPGs: Fiesta and Secret of the Solstice. When doing research for these games, I came across the Valentine's Day event where the key event was the chance to win a date with a GM. Finding this out has already filled my mind with questions about how this game works. More of this will be covered in-depth other places, so once again, we're skipping ahead.

After the meeting, we headed off to the Moscone center to pick up the all-important press badges. We're not checked once, but twice on the way to the Press Lounge, we were checked if we had badges. Someone else will have to explain the flaw in this logic, because I'm simply speechless. We pick up the badges without incident and head back to the hotel. Since the rain has died off, we just walk back. No need to spend $10 on every trip to and fro.

The rest of the day was spent pouring over the schedule. We already found the first major problem. We scheduled a meeting during the Microsoft keynote. Not familiar with the speaker, I didn't find this a pressing concern. Keynotes are always easily available, minute-by-minute if desired, from countless blogs, so we can catch up on what we need with that. I would like to do that some day... but I don't think I have the charming wit needed to pull it off.

Other than that, it was a rather average day. I had some work to do with other aspects of the site. There's never a moment when one can't find something to do around here. It's the nature of the gaming industry, I think. There's so much to cover and only so much time in a day. I do hope tomorrow will be more interesting than today was.